World’s Elite Table Tennis Players Primed For Doha
- WTTC 2025
- May 8
- 4 min read
Author : WTT Team | Full Article: World Table Tennis
There’s just 10 days to go before one of the hottest anticipated events on the sporting calendar lights up Qatar, with ITTF World Table Tennis Championships Finals Doha 2025 welcoming the world’s best table tennis players from 17-25 May.
Fighting for some of the most iconic trophies the sport has to offer, the nine-day event features an elite playing field, bringing stardust to Qatari shores. Here’s a closer look at the Top 5 Men’s Singles and Women’s Singles seeds ready to wow the world:
The World No.1 and one of the hot favourites to lift the St. Bride Vase in Doha, Lin Shidong has been the form player of the past eight months, reaching incredible heights on the WTT Series. His standout moment of the season so far came at Singapore Smash 2025, striking not one, not two, but three titles in the Lion City. Making his first Men’s Singles appearance at the World Championships Finals, could this turn out to be the dream debut when all is said and done?
Returning to the World Championships stage with a score to settle, Wang Chuqin is ready to do whatever it takes in pursuit of sporting immortality. His runner-up finish two years back in Durban is a result he’s desperate to better, and if it’s the same Wang Chuqin who thundered to title glory at WTT Champions Chongqing 2025 that rocks up in Doha, then there will be no stopping the 2023 silver medallist this time around.
A trailblazing force for table tennis in the Americas, the Thrill from Brazil travels to Doha on cloud nine. Hugo Calderano took a step in the right direction with his quarterfinal finish at WTT Champions Incheon 2025. That result would inspire a magical week at the ITTF World Cup in Macao, becoming the first player from his continent to lift the prestigious trophy with sensational victories over Wang Chuqin and Lin Shidong. Now his sights are set on a first World Championships Finals medal.
Twice a Mixed Doubles silver medallist, Tomokazu Harimoto has ambitions to add to that tally in Doha, chasing his first Men’s Singles podium on this historic stage. A former WTT Champions event winner, the fiery Japanese star knows what it takes to outshine the sport’s brightest and best. Powering his way to the title once already this season in Doha with an outstanding week at WTT Star Contender Doha 2025, are the stars beginning to align for Harimoto?
A man who has been inseparable from the World Championships Finals podium in recent years, Liang Jingkun is looking to build on three successive medal finishes at this level, striking Men’s Singles bronze in 2019, 2021 and 2023. Both of his appearances on WTT Series 2025 so far have been nothing short of impressive, battling past Wang Chuqin to reach the Singapore Smash 2025 final before adding a semifinal finish at WTT Champions Chongqing to his record. Can Liang get his hands on a different coloured medal in Doha?
A global phenomenon and the defending Women’s Singles World champion, Sun Yingsha is the player all others are measured against. Her reign as World champion has been extraordinary, and there’s every chance she could go on to extend her stay on the throne. Lifting the Women’s Singles trophy in five of her last six WTT Series appearances, ShaSha’s record in recent months has been impeccable, going all the way at Singapore Smash and WTT Champions Chongqing. The World No.1 will take some stopping!
Defending World champion Sun Yingsha headlines the Women's Singles draw in Qatar.
The predecessor to Sun Yingsha’s title reign, former World champion Wang Manyu desires to get her hands on the Geist Prize once again. She is, understandably so, considered by many as the main challenger to ShaSha’s throne, having been there and done it before. The 2021 World champion is looking to ignite her 2025 campaign, following a shock round of 16 departure at Singapore Smash. What better place to kickstart your season than at the historic World Championships Finals?
The player who frustrated Wang Manyu at the quarterfinal hurdle two years back at World Championships Finals 2023 was none other than Chen Xingtong, who would go on to bank a bronze medal finish in Durban. Tong-Tong has been enjoying elite form in recent months, reaching the final hurdle at WTT Finals Fukuoka 2024, an effort she would match at this season’s WTT Champions events in Chongqing and Incheon.
Ending a 17-month WTT Series title drought with her unbelievable comeback heroics at last month’s WTT Champions Incheon 2025, Wang Yidi heads to Doha with the weight of the world lifted from her shoulders. She can now channel all her energy into the World Championships Finals. The 2021 bronze medallist will have her eyes fixed on another podium finish, but could her Incheon breakthrough be the catalyst for something special in Qatar?
Looking to follow in the historic footsteps of Miu Hirano and Hina Hayata as the only Japanese Women’s Singles medallists since Toshiko Kowada’s title win in 1969, Miwa Harimoto is ready to write her own legend. The 16-year-old ace has been a standout in 2025, striking her first WTT Star Contender singles title in Chennai before kicking on to complete the three-peat at WTT Contender Tunis. A special talent, Miwa’s Women’s Singles debut at the World Championships Finals has the potential to be game changing!
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